BJP’s race to a supermajority – Southasia Weekly #118

This week, two journalists from the digital news outlet Adhadhu received prison sentences for defying a gag order handed down from the Maldives’s Criminal Court. This is just the latest incident of repression after the passage of media regulations that allow a government-controlled commission to order for the removal of content or the stripping away of media licenses. In Myanmar too, the junta has been cancelling publishing licenses even as it proclaims that the country has transitioned to civilian rule. All this just weeks after World Press Freedom Day.

Himal has long tracked media censorship and repression across Southasia, and we have aimed to be a platform for stories that often can’t be told in national and mainstream media. That’s why we wanted to spotlight the detentions in Maldives, a story that deserves a wider audience. To support this newsletter, and our broader work on media freedom, please consider signing up to our Patrons programme to support our work.

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This week in Himal

Shweta Desai writes about the BJP’s race to a parliamentary supermajority in order to open the door to drastic constitutional change, despite the defeat of three government bills on women’s representation, delimitation and increasing the size of the Lok Sabha. 

If you've been enjoying our recent stories on Bollywood and Hindu nationalism, make sure to check out our latest edition of Footnotes, where associate editor Nayantara Narayanan sits down with film critic Anna M M Vetticad and journalist Raza Rumi.